Teachers are very valuable in Germany. The process to become a teacher can be a long and difficult road. Not many students stick through the whole process. To begin the career of a teacher the student must attend all of the years of regular schooling that are required, attend a school that specializes in teaching, and take the first of three certification test. After graduating a university, the teacher must work for two years as an apprentice teacher under the master teacher. After the teacher has attained advanced training with the onsite staff, a recommendation from the mentor teacher, and successful evaluations from outside master teachers, a second state certification exam must be taken. Many teachers stay at this level of the ladder for the rest of their career. The road to become a master teacher is at the very least a three-year dedication. After several more years of teaching, three-day observations by two outside master teachers, passage of a third state exam, and more recommendations, the teacher can become a master teacher (Buhlman, 2003).

Becoming a teacher in Germany is a long and hard road to follow. Because of this, teacher are paid exceptionally well and ranked second on the “most respected”
list in Germany. Teachers maintain long hours in and out of the classrooms, making themselves available to their students at any time of the day.

There are no vice-principles, counselors, or librarians in the school. The most serious and criminal-like acts are taken to the part-time principle (who is known as the director), which may summon the police or take whatever action he thinks necessary. With the student-professor rations at the German universities averaging sixty-one, teachers have a hard time spending the necessary time with each student who needs it (Novak, 1999).

Since the reunification of Germany, education has been an essential part of their culture. With one of the best-rated education systems in the world, Germany continues to make changes to help better their students and help them become good citizens. The education system brings pride into the country and allows them to better their lives after a time of suffering that they had gone through. Some people scrutinize the system, but changes being made will only better it.

Many larger metropolitan cities have developed comprehensive schools, which are known as the Gesamtschules. These schools are for students who want to represent the German government and are the government’s hope for the future of Germany.

And finally, the special school, known as the Sonderschule, is for all handicapped students who could not succeed without special assistance. These schools are first-class operations due to a strong parent lobby that keeps these programs from being integrated into the regular schools (Menacker, 1979).

Classes at the German schools span over a twelve-month period and are held six days a week. The class schedule repeats by the week. In other words, a student may not a first period class on Mondays but may have them on Saturday mornings. Class times range anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours (if there is a lab going on the class can take up to the full two hours). There is a short summer vacation and a couple smaller mini-vacations, which allow the school days per year to total around one hundred and eighty (Williams, 1999).

German students have a large responsibility list to take on. What students do in their free time while not in classes is the business of themselves and of their parents. The school does not assume the rule of loco parentis. It has only been recently that schools in larger metropolitan areas are requiring their kids to stay on campus for safety reasons. Schools do not provide libraries so students must travel by public transportation to use the community library. The students are expected to do heavy loads of homework every night outside of school. German students assume great responsibilities for independent studies.

Many larger metropolitan cities have developed comprehensive schools, which are known as the Gesamtschules. These schools are for students who want to represent the German government and are the government’s hope for the future of Germany.

And finally, the special school, known as the Sonderschule, is for all handicapped students who could not succeed without special assistance. These schools are first-class operations due to a strong parent lobby that keeps these programs from being integrated into the regular schools (Menacker, 1979).

Classes at the German schools span over a twelve-month period and are held six days a week. The class schedule repeats by the week. In other words, a student may not a first period class on Mondays but may have them on Saturday mornings. Class times range anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours (if there is a lab going on the class can take up to the full two hours). There is a short summer vacation and a couple smaller mini-vacations, which allow the school days per year to total around one hundred and eighty (Williams, 1999).

German students have a large responsibility list to take on. What students do in their free time while not in classes is the business of themselves and of their parents. The school does not assume the rule of loco parentis. It has only been recently that schools in larger metropolitan areas are requiring their kids to stay on campus for safety reasons. Schools do not provide libraries so students must travel by public transportation to use the community library. The students are expected to do heavy loads of homework every night outside of school. German students assume great responsibilities for independent studies.

The main school, which is called the Hauptschule, ranges from grades five through ten. Students in the main school fulfill the state’s minimum education requirements and prepare to enter a vocational or trade apprenticeship program. During the “on-the-job” time, students must receive ten hours of relevant language and math training weekly. The main school’s curriculum adequately prepares students to become apprentice auto-body repairs, bakers, butchers, flower arrangers, and hair stylists or to take on other jobs that require only minimal language and math skills.

The intermediate school, known as the Realschule, also ranges from grades five through ten. It is broken up into the junior secondary education and senior secondary education. Students that attend the intermediate school fulfill the state’s minimum education requirements and prepare to enter any two or three year apprenticeship program. The curriculum is more comprehensive and more difficult here than that of the main school. Four to six years of a foreign language are required along with more intense math and science skills. Jobs such as bank tellers, electricians, health-care attendants, and workers in any jobs that use computers require the extra training of the intermediate school (Novack, 1999)

The college-prep school, known as the Gymnasium, who once only one fifth of the students choose, is now the choice of one half of the students and parents in Germany. Ranging from grades five through thirteen, students study I various college-prep and white-collar-career-prep programs. Most of the Gymnasiums offer specialized programs, such as math, and physical sciences, social sciences, and languages, health and physical education, and visual and performing arts. Careers such as architecture, business, education, engineering, law, medicine, or science are just some of the fields that a student who goes to the Gymnasium can go into. Written and verbal comprehensive final exams determine a student’s graduation from high school. Before moving on to a university, though, students must take and pass the Abitur exam, which is a separate test from the others that are required to graduate (Waterkamp, 2010)

After passing the Abitur, German students may apply for schools. The student and their parents do not get to choose where the student attends school, instead it is based on a first come first serve bases. All universities are free to any student that has passed the Abitur or any foreign student that has gotten a high school diploma.

Students who do not want to attend universities or go into white-collar jobs choose to follow this path (Buhlman, 2003). Primary education in German schools is neighborhood-based and self-contained. At the age of four, students can attend preschool and some students may skip preschool and attend the kindergarten level at the age if six. Because both are voluntary, so some students may not start school until the age of seven. However, starting in the fifth grade, students and parents may select the school of their choice. The school type options are the main school, the intermediate school, the college-prep school, and the new comprehensive school (Wilde, 2002). In the fifth and sixth grade, the programs of study are similar, but the seventh grade is the time when students may start to specialize in career-prep programs according to their interests and abilities. It is mandatory by each state that all children from the ages of six to fifteen are fulltime students and sixteen to eighteen years old must be at least part time students.

Initially reading and writing were taught to prepare the population to read the Bible. As the years went on and the culture began to change, academic skills began to be taught to prepare students for careers. Everyday the schools are changing in some way. With in the last fifteen to twenty years the German public schools have taken on the responsibility for special education (which until then was the responsibility of medical and state institutions or the home). Although some things are changing, most will probably stay the same for a while. Extracurricular activities, ranging from music to sports, are the responsibilities of the communities, churches, and amateur athletic associations. Students must rely on private or public transportation and food services. Health and safety issues are the responsibility of HMOs, government, churches, private institutions, and of the home (Menacker, 1979). Vocational training continues to be primarily the responsibility of business and industry. The Berufsschulen is the two- to three-year vocational schools that help prepare students for their careers. After attending the junior secondary program, a student may attend the Berufsschulen – full time and take programs that usually last between twelve and eighteen months.

Every culture in the world has some sort of way of learning and evolving. Many do not offer educational institutes such as schools and campuses, however like the Us many do. Education seems to be a profound effect in our lives and is the only way to learn how to make it in the working world. America is said to value education highly, however there are other countries that also place education at the top of the social-economic list and in particular one that may have our number, is that of Germany.
Education in Germany is a source of pride for the people of the country. They have one of the world’s best and most extensive school and university systems in the world. The German education system has been praised for its ability to provide quality general education combined with specific training for a profession or a skilled occupation. The system has endured changes from 1386, when there was only one university, to the present, where there are numerous amounts of different schools (Schulze, 1998).